There is no such thing as "culture-neutral" or "cultureless".
Even books written with animal characters are not culture-neutral.
If a book feels "race-neutral" it's probably because it depicts a dominant culture that you are familiar with. It seems neutral because it feels familiar to you--just like a fish that does not notice the water it's swimming in.
Let’s do a concrete example from one book. Here’s one I grabbed from my bookshelf. Froggy books are wildly popular with my students.
Is this animal book “culture-neutral”?
Is this animal book “culture-neutral”?
The most obvious thing that jumps out for me is playing in the snow. Clearly cultures from tropical climates wont connect with this story line. But let's dig deeper...
Froggy's mom and dad are sleeping in the same bed, and Froggy has his own. Where children sleep within a household is often influenced by culture. For children who grew up in cultures were bedsharing is the norm, this page would not reflect their experiences
Throughout the entire book Froggy's mom takes care of Froggy as he wakes up (when he's not supposed to) and helps him get ready to play. Every time Froggy's dad is in the picture he is sleeping. What cultural gender norms does this story reinforce?
I could go on, but I hope this helps illustrate how even books featuring animal characters are not "culture-neutral" or "cultureless"
Adding that while I've often seen the fish analogy used to describe culture, the last place I saw it was Gloria Ladson-Billing's chapter in Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Teaching & Learning for Justice in a Changing World. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it!
